Palestinians observe strike amid Pence visit

A general strike was observed throughout Palestine on Tuesday in protest against a visit by US Vice President Mike Pence to the old city of Jerusalem.

Shops, banks, schools, and government offices were shut down heeding the call by political forces for the strike, according to Wafa news agency.

Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party called for a general strike across “all Palestinian sectors”.

Public transportation has also joined the strike. Excluded from the strike were hospitals and clinics and some educational facilities.

Pence, a pro-Israel who pushed for recognition of Jerusalem (al-Quds) as Israel’s capital and a strong advocate of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, is expected to visit Al-Buraq Wall, one of the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, on Tuesday.

On Sunday night, several Palestinian protesters burned a photo of Mike Pence in the West Bank city of Bethlehem against his arrival in Israel earlier in the day.

The visit, part of a wider tour of Middle Eastern countries, comes amid simmering Palestinian anger at Trump’s December recognition of Jerusalem (al-Quds) as Israel’s capital.

Initially scheduled for December before being postponed, Pence’s visit is the final leg of a trip that included stops in Egypt and Jordan as well as a visit earlier in the day to a US military facility near the Syrian border.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Pence in a Facebook post, and later at an event for foreign diplomats, hailing the US vice president as a “great friend of Israel.”